To many, that menacing scowl was the personification of the hard-nosed, hardworking image of the team they loved.

Kendrick Perkins wasn’t just a basketball player he was their basketball player -- the people’s champ. He was a guy that would have waded through poisoned waters filled with steroid-infused piranhas to grab a rebound, but he never assumed anything.

That work ethic made him a timeless talent that would have fit in just as easily with Red as he did with Doc Rivers.

But shipping him off was something that Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge felt was necessary for the organization to not only get better this year, but to also continue flourishing in the future.

While the Celtics may be owners of the best record in the Eastern Conference (41-15 entering Friday) – including three wins over Miami, two over Orlando and one each against Los Angeles, Chicago and San Antonio, all of which form the upper crust of the NBA along with Dallas – when Ainge looked at his roster he saw a team that was suddenly obsolete.

His team was built to bang with bigger teams like Orlando and Los Angeles, not run with the likes of Miami, San Antonio or the suddenly surging Chicago Bulls, all of whom are now clearly considered the bigger threats in Boston.

With the 26-year-old Perkins at center, the Celtics' brass feared they would be run off the court by those teams.

Perkins is a brooding defensive presence, a good rebounder and was built to contain the likes of Orlando center Dwight Howard, as he displayed during last year’s upset of the Magic in the Eastern Conference finals.

But he’s slow, doesn’t run the court well, has bad knees and is a liability on offense that opponents never bothered to cover.

It’s a gamble, tearing apart a team with great chemistry during a championship window, but by the time the Celtics are done filling the roster spots created by selling off center Semih Erden, forward Luke Harangody and swingman Marquis Daniels Thursday, Ainge feels that he will have a much improved team.

While it’s true that Perkins refused to sign an extension with the team and they knew they couldn’t compete for him on the open market with $57 million tied up between Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce next season, the motives weren’t money based.

The cold reality is that after eight seasons with the team, Ainge decided Perkins wasn’t really needed anymore.

While he was working diligently to return ahead of schedule from a torn ACL suffered in Game 6 of last season’s NBA Finals, the Celtics went 33-10 without him and realized that his presence was superfluous now that they have Shaquille O’Neal.

“Shaq has proven to be better with our starters,” Ainge explained. “We beat all of the top teams without Kendrick."

But more than that, they feel like Green can bring more to this team than Perkins.

Emotions aside, there’s no doubt that the 24-year-old Green is the most talented player in this deal and should be an integral piece of this franchise moving forward, assuming the team retains him beyond next season.

He’s a very long 6-foot-9, can play the small forward position, as well as power forward in a smaller lineup, can shoot from long distance, is a skilled finisher at the rim and should create matchup problems for opposing teams.

“He brings scoring, passing, intelligence, experience, energy, youth and athleticism all in one package,” Ainge said of Green.

Green, who started all 47 games for Oklahoma City this season while averaging 15.2 points and 5.6 rebounds game, will ably slide in behind Pierce at small forward, giving the Celtics one of the best sixth men in the league, and an eventual cornerstone once the Big Three starts splintering apart.

And adding someone like the 7-foot Krstic, whose ability to hit shots from distance will create spacing that is optimal for Rondo to operate in, also provides Boston with a center that can finish games, something Perkins was unable to do.

There’s still work to be done filling out the roster with players who will be bought out of their current deals, so it’s still too soon to pass total judgment.

But once you get past the emotional aspects of losing Perkins, Ainge may not be so crazy after all.